Hidden Treasures

                                                    HIDDEN TREASURES

Kathleen Buckley

 

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GENRE:  Sweet Historical Romance

 

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BLURB:

 

Allan Everard, an earl's illegitimate son, is dismissed from his employment at his father’s death but inherits a former coaching inn. Needing to make a new life in London, he begins by leasing the inn to a charity.

 

Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin. Fearing his secretive ways and his intentions for them, Rosabel and Oriana flee to London where they are taken in by a women’s charity.

 

Drawn into Rosabel's problems, with his inn under surveillance by criminals, Allan has only a handful of unlikely allies, including an elderly general, a burglar, and an old lady who knows criminal slang. A traditional romance.

 

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EXCERPT

 

“Sir, we came to London to live with our grandfather, but he is ill, and we couldn’t see him, and our uncle’s wife didn’t believe we are his grandchildren, and now we have no place to go.” 

 

Rosabel wished whoever he was might be able to aid them, knowing she dare not trust him, not after their encounter with the woman at the inn. He was probably a rakehell. Gentlemen did not otherwise concern themselves with females of the servant class, as they must appear to be, clad in their dusty, countrified clothing.

 

Blinking away her last tears, she was tempted to revise her opinion. His plain black suit, slight body, and untidy hair suggested quite another sort of man. His eyes twinkled when she met his gaze. “May I introduce myself, ma’am? Wilfred Simmons, curate, St. Giles-without-Cripplegate. If you and your sister have nowhere to stay, your situation is serious. London is a hard place even for men if they have no work and no money. A female without resources risks danger to both body and soul. Please let me assist you.”

 

She bit her lip. Mr. Simmons appeared to be respectable. He had a gentleman’s voice and was no more than four-and-twenty, she guessed. Beside her, Ory sniffed dolefully. 

 

“You are wise not to be too trusting. I have friends who will vouch for me inside.” He smiled at her expression. “Ma’am, no one has ever been abducted from St. George’s Church, Hanover Square.”

A Word With the Author

 

1.Did you always want to be an author?

 

I remember that after learning to read and write in first grade, I sat down one afternoon and began to make a list of every word I knew. I gave up almost immediately: there were too many and I could spend my time reading instead.  But I don’t think I thought about being an author, as such; I just wanted to write and loved any assignment that involved writing. 

 

Around the age of twelve I began to write for my own amusement and then started reading writers’ magazines. I knew I wouldn’t make a career of it; one of those magazines published a report that writers averaged about $50 a year (this was in the early 1960s and was based on those who responded to the magazine’s survey). I was also pretty sure my father wouldn’t approve. My career plan was to be a newspaper reporter. By the time I was in high school, I knew I’d never be a reporter because I hate asking intrusive questions. “How are you?” or “Would you like pumpkin pie or mincemeat?” is about as personal as I get with people unless I know them well. 

 

I worked in a hospital billing department, a small commercial print shop, various temporary jobs, a law firm, and as a security officer. I did write: stories and novels I never finished, a leaflet about a coworker’s car club, and procedure manuals when I left a job to assist my replacement. I sold two stories to the late Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, for anthologies he edited. Let me hasten to add, he wasn’t dead at the time. I cherish his badly-typed note to me accepting the first story and offering me the amazing sum of $500. 

 

But it was only after I moved to New Mexico and retired that my writing career began. I wrote two novels, both of which need revision before I submit them. Then I started the third, which became my first published historical romance.

 

2.Tell us about the publication of your first book.

 

I began to write a romance in the manner of Georgette Heyer, because she couldn’t write any more (having died in the 1970s). It took me three years, with long gaps between writing sessions while I wondered, What comes next? because I am a seat-of-the-pants writer. I completed it, read over it and thought, This isn’t bad. It came as a revelation that there were now non-Big Five publishers and some did not require an agent. After looking at a bunch of websites, I found an indie publisher with a good reputation that sounded like a possibility. A month and a half from my query letter, I had a contract. An Unsuitable Duchess came out about nine months later. I held that printed copy as if I’d given birth…only without the pain. Eight years and eleven books later, I’m still with that company and the same editor.   

3.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

 

That’s a hard choice. My favorite is Jayne Davis, Mary Lancaster, Mimi Matthews, Carla Kelly, Mary Kingswood, Catherine Kullman, Jenny Hambly, or Louise Allen, depending on which I’m reading at the moment. And these are only the ones who write traditional/”sweet” romances as I do. For steamier reads, Lucinda Brant may be my top choice, though I also enjoy Mary Balogh, Grace Burrowes, and Anne Gracie, and several others. The thing they all have in common is that their stories all have more going on in them than romantic angst. 

4.What's the best part of being an author? The worst?

 

Oh, writing is the best part. I get up in the morning looking forward to spending several hours and cups of coffee working on my current project. The second best is the research, of which there’s always some to do because I write historical fiction. Sometimes the research itself gives me an idea for the next book. 

 

How? Most Secret, my second historical fiction novel, involved some smuggling. Learning about shipping in the Pool of London led to Captain Easterday’s Bargain which was set against that background. Both main characters and most of the minor ones worked in shipping. Research on 18^th century slang contributed 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:                           

 

Kathleen Buckley writes traditional historical romance (i.e. no explicit sex). There are fewer ballrooms and aristocratic courting rituals in her books and more problems than does-he-love-me/does-he-not. Sometimes there’s humor. Kathleen wanted to write from the time she learned to read and pursued this passion through a Master’s Degree in English, followed by the kind of jobs one might expect: light bookkeeping, security officer, paralegal. She did sell two stories to the late Robert Bloch, author of Psycho. And no, he wasn’t late at the time.

 

After moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, she wrote her first historical romance, striving for Georgette Heyer’s style, followed by nine more.    

 

In Kathleen’s gentle romances, the characters tend to slide into love rather than fall in lust. Their stories are often set against the background of family relationships, crime, and legal issues, probably because of her work in a law firm. 

 

When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoys cooking dishes from eighteenth century cookbooks. Those dishes and more appear in her stories. Udder and root vegetables, anyone? 

 

Kathleen Buckley’s current work in progress is her first historical mystery, tentatively titled A Murder of Convenience. 

 

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/kathleen_buckley

Website: https://18thcenturyromance.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/18thcenturyromance/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Kathleen-Buckley/author/B072J2GPZ3

 

 

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 Giveaway information

 

Kathleen Buckley will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway